


rest, sweetheart. I'm here now.

by sunday_songs



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M, Post-Book 4: A Court of Silver Flames, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and the house loves nesta, nesta loves her house
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 03:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30099846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunday_songs/pseuds/sunday_songs
Summary: Nesta went to bed alone that night. Cassian had gone out to the war camps early that morning and wasn’t due back until late the next night. She’d woken to cloudy skies, dark and heavy with the promise of rain, and an empty bed.
Relationships: Nesta Archeron/Cassian
Comments: 4
Kudos: 63





	rest, sweetheart. I'm here now.

Nesta went to bed alone that night. Cassian had gone out to the war camps early that morning and wasn’t due back until late the next night. She’d woken to cloudy skies, dark and heavy with the promise of rain, and an empty bed. She sighed, crawling beneath the covers and picking up her latest romance novel from the nightstand, a single fae light illuminating her corner of the room. 

“Thank you,” she whispered to the house, and the room warmed to a comfortable temperature in response. “You’re too good to me.” She flipped to her last read page, skimming through the words until her eyelids grew heavy with exhaustion, her day’s activities catching up with her. She reluctantly put down her novel, settling down into the mattress, her thoughts clouded with tomorrow’s plans. She would need to get up early in the morning anyway, she found that starting her day with training put her in a relatively better mood for the following hours.

Once again her thoughts wandered to Cassian. She wondered what he was doing, if he was thinking about her. She subconsciously reached her hand out to the other side of the bed, unliking how cold and vacant it was. Too big, she thought. The bed was much too big without him there to hold her. She rolled over onto her back, eyes tracing near-invisible marks in the ceiling. She squeezed them shut, hoping sleep would come to her soon. She willed the nightmares to stay away, if only for tonight when her mate wasn’t here to kiss away her tears. 

Several breaths passed before she opened her eyes again. Nothing had changed, the bedroom still dark and empty. She used to cling to that loneliness, would willingly hole herself up in her room, content to stare into the dark for hours on end. Somehow, since then she had begun to lean on his presence, could no longer bear the emptiness the silence brought with it. She focused her breathing, inhale. Exhale. Again. The deep lungfuls of air soothed her, evening out until she was falling into oblivion. As she drifted off, she could have sworn she heard a soft, ‘goodnight, Nes’ in the back of her mind. 

She woke to the soft pattering of rain and an empty bed. Water slid down the windows and Nesta traced their paths as they bled into one another. She sighed as she slid out from beneath the covers, trudging to the bathing room. She trained for half an hour longer than usual, though each minute was spent in misery. By the time she was done, she was soaked. The open-roofed arena had not been her friend today. After a warm bath, she dressed in one of her more comfortable dresses, stitched from a soft pink fabric. She met Gwyn for lunch, where they feasted on steaming bowls of soup and thick crusty bread that had eased some of the chill she hadn’t been able to shake since she’d first woken that morning. The two of them spent the afternoon in the private library, lounging around, reading books, and discussing training plans. If they also shared a couple slices of chocolate cake, well, that was just between them. 

When Gwyn departed for the night Nesta was left in the library with no one but the house for company. Not that it was bad company, it wasn’t at all. Cassian wasn’t due back until much later but- there was no harm in waiting for him right? Though she knew she’d probably regret losing so many precious hours of sleep in the morning, she was nothing if not iron-willed. So she picked up her book where she left off, and waited. 

Sometime later the house had provided a fuzzy throw blanket that Nesta had eagerly accepted, draping it across her knees, as well as a steaming mug of tea, which now lay on the table beside her. She knew the hour was quickly approaching midnight, though she did not make an attempt to move from her spot. It was quite comfortable actually, the sofa that she was curled up on. She sipped her tea, losing herself to the fantasy world of her book, in which the heroine embarks on an epic journey, fighting battles across the sea, falling in love with a handsome prince-

***

It was late when Cassian arrived back at the House of Wind. He landed heavily on the balcony, shaking his rain-soaked hair out. The storm had been an unexpected delay and a pain in the ass to navigate through, but he had managed. He knew his leathers were caked in all manner of mud and grime but he couldn’t bring himself to care as he made his way through the house, intent on one thing, and one thing only; Nesta. 

The thought brought a smile to his face as he imagined his Nesta curled up on their enormous bed, fast asleep with that look on her face that he only got to see when she was sleeping. He made his way through the halls toward their bedroom but was stopped short by the slow, even breaths coming from the private library. His brows knitted in confusion, but there it was again. The familiar sound had him cracking open the heavy oak doors. 

There, sleeping soundly with a blanket and a book on her chest was his mate. A half-full mug of tea sat on the table beside her, cold now. Carefully, so carefully, he pried the book from her hands, folding down the corner of the page so she wouldn’t lose her place. Then, he slid his arms beneath her body, picking her up with a gentleness he so rarely used. He pulled her closer to his chest, relishing in the feeling of having her close to him again. 

Their room was dark when he entered, and he didn’t dare turn on a light for fear of waking the sleeping female in his arms. He had just settled her onto the bed and started toward the bathing room when a hand closed around his wrist. He froze, barely breathing as her eyelids fluttered open. 

“Cassian?” 

He couldn’t help the smile that spread on his face when she said his name. “Yeah, it’s me. I didn’t mean to wake you. Sorry,” He whispered. She mumbled something incoherently before letting her eyes close again. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.” 

“Mm- wanted to wait up for you.” 

He could barely make out the words but chuckled nevertheless. Cauldron, he loved her. He could tell that he was losing her to exhaustion with each passing moment so he leaned down to press a tender kiss to her forehead and murmured, “Rest, sweetheart. I’m here now.”

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed!
> 
> come hang out! My tumblr: https://sundaysongs.tumblr.com/


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